About

Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana Ryan Conroy All the world knows the special magic of Carlos Santana. Since 1966, he has led the group that bears his name, selling over 30 million albums and performing before an estimated 13 million people. In every performance, Carlos shares with his audience a personal communication that crosses all boundaries and differences. Carlos was introduced to traditional music by his father, Jose. An accomplished mariachi violinist and experienced musician, he taught Carlos the basics of music theory and gave him an understanding of the value of a note. Although Carlos' excitement for music would be sparked by his first experience, he quickly discovered the limits of its traditional form and wanted more. Carlos wanted to play the kind of music that was filling the radio waves and making people dance. Tijuana, 1955 the drastic change of moving from the small, quiet town of Autlan to the humming, thriving boom town of Tijuana brought a renewed hope and opportunity for a new life. Both for Carlos and his family. The eight-year old Carlos quickly left the violin for the guitar, studying and emulating the sounds of B.B. King, T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. Soon he was being asked to join local bands like the T.J.'s, where he added a unique touch and feel to his own renditions of all the great songs of the 1950's. As he continued to play with different bands along the busy Tijuana Strip, he not Page Two only started to perfect his style and sound, but actually started bringing home enough money to really help his family. His future looked promising. In 1960, Carlos' family moved to San Francisco while Carlos stayed in Tijuana for another year to make extra money until his family was settled. However, he soon found himself amid the multicultural atmosphere of San Francisco, with all of its diverse musical styles. It was here that Carlos would find what he had been searching for, as if destiny had brought him to the right place at the right time. For the...

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* other relevant information including key data from the case study
* • Key learning’s that should be adopted by another organization embarking on a
* similar venture
sz
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The case suggests that early in Ghosn’s career he realized the importance of developing and communicating a purpose, which enables separate cultural or functional units to collaborate and work toward a common goal. At Michelin, Renault and Nissan he followed a similar pattern of establishing cross-functional teams to diagnose company problems, communicate results and develop a strategy to solve those problems. At Nissan, Ghosn used input from his cross-functional teams to develop and communicate an aggressive Nissan Revival Plan (NRP) in October of 1999. Ghosn communicated the plan to company employees, the press and the general public outlining specific measurable goals that would be met to revitalize the failing company. NRP essentially became the company’s purpose from 1999 until 2001, filling a gap where no purpose previously existed. Ghosn provided his reasons for developing and communicating a purpose saying, “focusing on specific business objectives,...

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"When you get a clear strategy and communicate your priorities, it's a pleasure working in Japan. The Japanese are so organized and know how to make the best of things. They respect leadership ". Carlos Ghosn
Even though Ghosn expected that his attitude toward cultural respect and opportunism would lead to success, Ghosn was pleasantly surprised by how quickly Nissan employees accepted and participated in the change of their management processes. In his speech at Tuck school he mentioned that workers love stories, they want to understand the story they are in and the role they are playing, they want to see a happy ending-and they want to be part of that ending. Nissan employees were eager to prove themselves." In fact, he has credited all of the success in his programs and policies to the willingness of the Nissan employees at all levels to change their mindsets and embrace new ideas.
Perhaps it was the way he started that set the foundation among the employees. He was the first manager to actually walk around the entire company and meet every employee in person, shaking hands and introducing himself. In addition, Ghosn initiated long discussions with several hundred managers in order to discuss their ideas for turning Nissan around. This began to address the problems within the vertical layers of management by bringing the highest leader of the company in touch with some of the execution issues facing middle and lower management....